Online stores cash in on 11.11.17

ONLINE retailers cashed in on the special 11.11 date (Nov 11) as it didn’t just mark the Chinese Singles Day, or Guanggun Jie, but also a day for mega sales on the online stores.

The date was chosen because the number “1” resembles an individual that is alone.

In addition to meaning “single”, the four “ones” of the date can also mean “only one” as in “the only one for me”.

Ho says the tremendous support from all our users has been very encouraging. (pix by Izwan Ismail)

Some people will use this date and this meaning to tell their special someone that they are the only “one” in their heart.

As more people joined in the celebration of this holiday, companies took the opportunity to target younger consumers since 2011.

Since then, this festival has become the largest online shopping day in the world, with sales in Alibaba’s sites Tmall and Taobao at US$5.8 billion in 2013, US$9.3 billion in 2014, US$14.3 billion in 2015 and over US$17.8 billion last year.

In Malaysia, major online retailers like Shopee, 11street, Lazada and ShopBack are making this date a time to offer fantastic discounts to shoppers.

Last year, Alibaba secured US$17.8 billion of sales on Nov 11, and this year, it hit US$5 billion (RM20.9 billion) in 15 minutes, US$8.6 billion within the first hour, and broke last year’s record at approximately 12.37pm yesterday. In Malaysia, online shopping portal ShopBack (www.shopback.my) has been collaborating with Alibaba’s group Taobao, Tmall, AliExpress, alongside a number of online shopping sites to offer shoppers with up to 90 per cent discounts and up to 50 per cent cashback on this day since 2015.

Alvin says this year, we observe a highly positive trend for the 11.11 sale. (pix by Izwan Ismail)

This is the third year that ShopBack Malaysia has organised 11.11 sales and the company is bringing new merchants like 11street and Uniqlo Online into its mall.

ShopBack Malaysia’s country general manager Alvin Gill said last year, the company witnessed a significant sales growth by 209 per cent (2015’s RM1.1 million vs 2016’s RM3.4 million) during the Singles Day celebration.

“This year, we observed a highly positive trend as of 10am on Nov 11,” he said.

ShopBack’s web traffic increased 10 times more than average hourly traffic, of which 30 per cent of traffic comprises first-time visitors, 35 per cent came from mobile, while 63 per cent came from desktop users.

“This is a 150 per cent increase compared with 2016’s Singles Day,” said Alvin.

“We received an average one day’s worth of orders within the first hour of Singles Day today and achieved five times more than average day’s orders up till 10am,” he said.

The top three categories people shop from are Fashion, Mother & Baby and Groceries. Lazada, for example, offers Flash Sales every two hours, Branded Surprise Boxes from RM39 to RM99, and Buy one free one bundles, and with 22 per cent Upsized Cashback from 11 per cent.

While Uniqlo Online offers online exclusive, including JW Anderson and Cashmere series from RM29.90 only, with 5 percent Upsized Cashback from 3.5 per cent previously.

Taobao and Tmall, meanwhile, offer up to 50 per cent Upsized cash rewards from 10 per cent previously. ShopBack’s shopping portal has 1,300 merchant partners across the region, including Uber, Expedia and Lazada.